City urges residents to cut water use amid mega sewage spill

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This article was published 20/02/2024 (564 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Flush only when necessary, avoid taking baths and only do full loads of laundry.

Some of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Winnipeg are being advised to follow “cottage rules” and conserve water as the municipal government battles a massive sewage spill that has proved difficult to fix.

The city is urging water conservation for residents and businesses in a large area from St. Norbert to Linden Woods as it works to make a temporary bypass of a sewage pipe across the Red River fully operational at the end of the week.

“We’re asking people to delay car washing and other uses of water. We want people to really try to reduce their consumption,” said Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the civic public works committee, on Tuesday.

Lukes said until a temporary fix is completed, the city hopes to reduce the millions of litres of untreated sewage that’s flowing into the Red River.

A city report said in the 24-hour period from Monday at 12 a.m. to Tuesday at 12 a.m., about 6.5 megalitres of raw sewage ended up flowing into the Red River.

On Feb. 7, a 90 centimetre-wide pipe, which runs under the Red River near the Fort Garry Bridge, failed. In total, 221.2 megalitres of sewage have ended up in the river.

The pipe is one of two that were installed in 1970 to transport all of the sewage from residences and businesses in St. Norbert, Fort Richmond, Richmond West, Waverley West, Bridgwater, Linden Woods, Linden Ridge, Whyte Ridge, Waverley Heights, and the University of Manitoba, to the South End Sewage Treatment Plant.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he is “frustrated” by the mega-leak.

“I met with staff (Tuesday) morning to understand what they’re doing to get this fixed as soon as possible,” Gillingham said in an email.

“In the meantime, I know we can count on area residents to reduce their water use for a few days to help ease the strain on the system.”

A leak was originally found in the other pipe under the river during a routine inspection near the end of November.

The leaky pipe was shut down, while the remaining one, “found to be in poor condition,” was used to handle the flow as the city worked to install a bypass system up and over on the Fort Garry Bridge itself.

Two days later, the second pipe failed, on Feb. 7.

“Our crews and contractors have been working tirelessly to address the leak and get a more stable bypass system in place,” said Tim Shanks, director of the city’s water and waste department, in a news release Tuesday.

“Under normal circumstances, the work involved in building a bypass system of this type is very challenging and would take upwards of five weeks. But we’ve been considerably expediting efforts to stop the leak.”

With one of two pumps now running as part of the temporary bypass system, the amount of sewage spilled into the river has decreased considerably, the city said. The peak was on Feb. 10, when 31.6 megalitres of sewage spewed into the river.

“The flow in the sewer varies during the day, and during peak flow times, the single bypass pump does not always keep up. When this happens, the excess flow in the sewer is spilled into the river,” the city said.

It’s expected the second pump will be working by the end of the week, the city said.

Lukes said the city plans to install different pipes under the river at another location to serve as a backup to prevent such a mess from happening again.

“It’s unbelievable that all of this goes through two pipes. That’s why we’re building a backup pipe,” she said.

“It will cost $95 million for a backup. It will go under the river by Maple Grove Park, but unfortunately it isn’t built yet. (Construction) will start next year.”

Lukes, who represents a large section of the area affected by the request to conserve water, said she tells residents who call her to “call the provincial and federal governments to help us with our sewage system.”

“We have old infrastructure and this is what can happen. We have huge requests to the province and federal governments, but if we can do anything to protect the environment, I know people will help reduce the flow.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

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